Street-railway car.



No. 555,555. Patented Aug. 7, I900. a. moons.

STREET RAILWAY GAB.

(Application filed Feb. 21, 1900.)

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No. 655,566, Patented Aug. 7, mom.

a. MOORE STREET RAILWAY CAR.

(Application fil'ed Feb. 21, 1900.) 4 Sheets-Sheet witnesses.- I Invenz'fo 7": @D/MLM QT Q w 726s fittorneys;

No. 655,566. Patented Aug. 7, 1900. G. MOORE.

STREET RAILWAY CAR.

(Application filed Feb. 21, 1900.)

4 Sheets-Sheet 3 (Nu Model.)

Inventor:

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Patented Aug. 7, I900.

' a. moons. STREET RAILWAY CAR.

(Application filed flab. 21, 1900.)

4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

GEORGE MOORE, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE DUPLEX CAR COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

STREETRAILWAY CAR.

srncrrrcaprron forming part of Letters Patent No. 655,566, dated August 7, 1900.

Application filed February 21, 1900- Serial No. 5,991. (No model.)

To aZl whom it may concern: overlapping in the said overhead curved por- Be it known that I, GEORGE MOORE, a citition of the frame or rib. Between the rezen of the United States, residing at Boston, spective upright frames or ribs are fitted slidin the county of Suffolk, State of Massachuing side sections, each having its opposite -5 setts, have invented a certain new and useedges fitted within and adapted to slide up ful Improvement in Street-Railway Cars, of and down along the grooves which have just which the following is a specification, referbeen mentioned as formed in the said frames ence being bad therein to the accompanying or ribs. Each side section comprises a windrawings. dow-sash and a panel below the same. The

IO The invention has relation to street-railwindow-sash works in the curved upper porway cars, although certain features thereof tions of the grooves in the upright frames or are adapted to other uses within the scope of ribs and is curved to the same degree as the the invention. I said upperportions. The panels are composed The invention relates more especially to of slats flexiblyjointed together in order that 15 street-railway cars which are convertible, they may adapt themselves, to the varying or, in other words, which may be employed, conformations of the grooves. When the as desired, either with the sides thereof comwindow sashes and panels of all the side secpletely closed or covered in for purposes of tions are down in normal position, the car is i protection, as in the case of the ordinary completely closed in at the sides. If desired,

2o closed car during cold or otherwise disagreeone or all of the window-sashes may be pushed F able and inclement weather, or with the sides up into the overhead or roof portion of the thereof completely thrown open during warm car, leaving the panels down in place, and and pleasant weather, as in the case of the the car will then resemble one of ordinary ordinary open or summer car. character which has a corresponding number 25 In the particular type of car to which the of its window-sashes open. Again, if deinvention is shown as applied there is a sesired, the panels also may be'pushed up into; ries of upright frames or ribs which rise or the overhead or roof portion of the car,wherespring from the floor of the car at distances by the sides of the car will be completel apart corresponding, by preference, to the opened up. 8o

0 spacing of the seats of the car. These frames The presentinven tion more particularly reor ribs are disposed crosswise of the car and, sidesin the construction of the flexible panel as will be understood, are located in the sides above mentioned, also in novel means for enand top of the body of the car. Each frame abling the sash of a given side section to be or rib is symmetrical in contour, its upper detachably connected with the corresponding 5 portion being curved in the arc of a circle, panel, means whereby either a sash or an the said are extending on opposite sides of entire movable side section may be locked the body of the car down to or nearly to the in an upraised position, and thereby retained normal positions of the lower edges of the in the overhead or root portion of the car, I window-sashes. From these points the frames and means whereby after a sash has been up- 40 or ribs extend, preferably in straight lines, raised and locked in place by such looking to the floor; but the precise form of this pormeans it may conveniently be unlocked by tion of the frames or ribs is not material to pushing up the panel until it meets the sash the present invention. In the sides of the and drawing down both panel and sash toframes or ribs are formed grooves, one of gether in their engaged condition.

5 such grooves beginning at each side of the The invention will be described in detail body of the car in the lower end of a given with reference'to the accompaning drawings, frame or rib and extending thence upward which illustrate the best form thereof that] and along the overhead curved portions of has yet been devised, andafterward the novel. 7 the frame or rib over to the opposite side of features of the improvement will be defined I03 50 the body of the car, the upper portions of the in the claims at the close of this specification. two grooves in a given side of a frame or rib In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective vview of a car embodying the invention. Fig.

2 is an isometric view showing, on an enlarged scale, certain of the upright frames or ribs and the movable side sections that are supported between the same. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the catch and keeper that are applied to the sash and panel constituting a movable side section for the purpose of enabling the said sash and panel to be connected together when required. Fig. 4 is a section taken on the plane that is indicated by the broken line at 4, Fig. 3, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows near the ends of such line. Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the locking-lever that is applied to the sash and the finger coacting therewith, which is applied to the panel. Fig. 6 is a section on the plane that is indicated by the broken line 6 6 in Fig. 5, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows near the ends of such line. Fig. 7 is a side elevation of the finger shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 8 is a front elevation of a panel. Fig. 9 is a section on the plane that is indicated by the broken line 9 9 in Fig. 8, looking in the direction that is indicated by the arrows near the ends of such line. Fig. 10 is a detail view of the panel, partly broken out in order to illustrate the devices by means of which the slats are joined together.

Having reference to the said drawings, and more especially first to Figs. 1 and 2 thereof, 1 is the floor of the car, 2 2 are the upright frames or ribs, 3 3 are the seats of the car, 4 4 are the grooves in the sides of the frames or ribs, 5 5 are the curved sashes sliding in the curved upper portions of such grooves, and 6 6 are the flexible panels sliding in the straight portions of the said grooves below the said sashes, all substantially as described at theoutset herein.

The construction of the panels is shown in Figs. 8, 9, and 10. Each panel is composed of, a top rail 7, a bottom rail 8, and the intermediate strips or slats 9 9, which are connected together into a unitary but flexible structure by means constituting a portion of my invention and which will now be particularly described. The upper meeting edges of the bottom rail and strips or slats are convex or rounded, while the under meeting edges of the top rail and the said strips or slats are concave to fit the former, as is shown most clearly in Fig. 9. Longitudinally through the panel are extended one or more lines of links 10 10, which are received in holes extending from edge to edge of each strip or slat., These links are shown clearly in Fig. 9 and are indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 8. The projecting end portions of each of the said links are flattened and arranged to overlap with the corresponding portions of adjoining links, as shown in Fig. 10, the said ends being joined by means of wires 11 passing through the overlapping portions. The wires 11 11 are received in grooves 12 12, which last are shown in Fig. 9.

formed in the rounded or convex edges of the bottom rail 8 and of the intermediate strips or slats 9 9. The ends of the said wires extend to the ends of the slats, and when the panel is in place between two of the upright frames or ribs the latter prevent the wire from working endwise out of place. The links that are applied to the top rail 7 and bottom rail 8 have their outer ends screw threaded, as

ends receivethereon nuts '13 13. For the reception of the said nuts 13 13 the top and bot-' tom rails aforesaid are formed with recesses,- as 14, the outer portions of the said recesses being filled with plugs 15 15 of wood.

By the above described construction of panel the joints thereof are completely con= cealed, but the parts of" the panel may be readily taken apart to replace a broken or damaged portion of the panel. Furthermore, the distance of each intermediate strip or slat from the adjacent strips or slats necessaryto preserve the complete flexibility of the panel and to prevent the adjacent strips or slats from binding upon one another is always maintained.

The catch device by means of which the sash and panel constituting a movable side section are connected together is shown in detail in Figs. 3 and 4 and applied in Fig. 2. It comprises, essentially, a latch 16, having at the free end thereof an engaging nose or projection 17, which enters a recess 18 in akeeper 19. The latch 16 is formed at the opposite end thereof with a cross-bar 20 and also with an opening 21 adjacent to the said cross-bar. The mounting of the latch comprises a baseplate 22 and a cover-plate 23. One end of the cover-plate is furnished with a hook 24, fitting under a raised lip 25 on the base-plate, the other end of the cover-plate passing through the opening 21 of the'said latch 16 and be,- ing connected with the base-plate by a screw or screws 26. Betweenthe cover-plate 23 and the crossbar 20 a bent plate-spring 27 is arranged, the ends of the latter resting against shoulders 28 28 on the under side of the cover-plate, while the middle portion of the said spring makes contact with the crossbar 20 of the latch, as is shown in Fig. 4. The said cross-bar is cam-shaped in cross-section,

as shown in Fig. 4. As will be obvious, the

disengagement of the latch from the keeper may be eifec-ted readily by hand, and, if desired, the latch may be swung up or reversed into an inoperative position, the pressure of the spring against the cam-shaped portion of the cross-bar of the latch operating to retain the latter in either its operative position or its inoperative position. The base-plate of the latch is secured to the bottom rail of the sash by means of screws 29 29, while the keeper 19 is secured to the top rail of the panel by means of screws 30 30. The nose of the latch is beveled or curved, as at 31, to facilitate the rising of the same overthe edge '75 The said screwthreaded too of the top rail 7 of the panel and over the keeper applied to the said top rail when the panel and sash are brought together.

It will be obvious that with the foregoing construction the latch will operate to engage automatically with the keeper whenever the sash and panel are brought together. For example, when the sash is in the upraised position in which it is shown at the right in Fig. 2, or even farther around within the overhead portion of the car, it is simply necessary to push the panel upward until the meeting-rails of the two come in contact with each other, whereupon the latch will snap into the recess of the keeper, therebyconnecting the parts.

The means whereby either a sash or an entire movable side section may be locked in an upraised position, and thereby retained in the overhead or roof portion of the car, and the means whereby after a sash has been upraised and locked in place it may conveniently be unlocked by pushing up the corresponding panel and may be drawn down therewith will now be particularly described with reference to Figs. 2, 5, and 6.

32, Fig. 2, is a stop-piece which is aflixed to one side of each upright frame or rib, preferably at the height to which it is desired that the -sash or the entire movable side section shall be raised. 33 is a locking lever which is applied to the sash for engagement with the said fixed stop-piece in order that the sash may be held in the upraised position in which it is represented in Fig. 2. The corresponding locking-lever that is applied to the panel for the purpose of engaging with the said fixed stop-piece in order to hold the panel in its completely-upraised position is designated 34, Fig. 2. In Fig. 2, at the righthand side thereof, the panel is shown in its lowest or normal position, the window-sash being upraised and being held in the upraised position through the engagement of the locking-lever 33 thereof with the fixed stop-piece 32. When it is desired to elevate the panel also, the latter is simply pushed upward in the grooves 4 4, and after coming in contact with the sash it will push the same ahead of it until the locking-lever 34 of the panel engages the said stop-piece, whereby the entire side section will be held upraised in the overhead portion of the car. This latter position is illustrated in the case of the three side sections at the left in Fig. 1, the three middle side sections in the said figure representing the sashes upraised and the panels down, while the three side sections at the right in the said figure are shown as completely closed or drawn down.

In Figs. 5 and 6 the locking-lever 33 is shown pivoted by a riveted pin 331 upon a stand or base 332, the latter being secured by screws 333 333 to the bottom rail of the sash 5.

When the entire side section is raised in the manner just described and the lockinglever 34 is in engagement with the stop-piece 32, the entire side section may be drawn down by disengaging the said locking-lever from the said stop by hand and drawing down on the panel, the panel and sash being already in engagement with each other through the latch 16 and keeper 19. The complete drawing'down of the side section, however, would be prevented by the rengagement of the locking-lever 33 on the sash with the stop 32. In order to prevent such rengagement, there is provided a finger 35, Figs. 2, 5, and 7, which is affixed by screws 351 351 to the top rail of the panel in line with the locking-lever 33 of the sash. 'When the panel is raised and comes into engagement with the sash, the finger 35 turns the locking-lever 33 on its pivot, thereby turning the same into its in= operative position and holding it in such inoperative position during the time while the entire side section remains upraised and while it is being again drawn down. In'such latter motion, therefore, the locking-lever 33 passes by the fixed stop 32 without engaging therewith. hen subsequently it is desired to raise the sash alone, and when thereupon the sash is disconnected from the panel, by swinging the latch 16 free from the keeper 19 the locking-lever 33 is at the same instant withdrawn from the finger 35 and resumes its operative position ready to engage with the fixed stop 32 as soon as the sash is com' pletely upraised.

That I claim is 1. A railway-car or the like vehicle having the grooved upright frames or ribs, the movable side section comprising the window-sash having its edges fitted to the grooves of the said frames or ribs, the panel also movable in the said grooves, the catch to connect the said sash and panel in a separable manner, the locking devices carried by the sash and panel,

the fixed stop-piece which is engaged by the said locking devices respectively, and the disengaging finger carried by the panel.

2. The flexible panel comprising the top and bottom rails and intermediate slats or strips with their convex and concave edges fitting together and having the recesses extending longitudinally in the said convex edges, the links passing through the said rails and slats or strips, and the wires passed through holes in the overlapping ends of the links extending in the direction of the length of the slats or strips and occupying said recesses.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

' GEORGE MOORE. Witnesses:

LEPINE HALL RICE, WILLIAM A. COPELAND. 

